New NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane heckled on first day in Parramatta

NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane has been heckled after arriving in Parramatta on her first full day as state Liberal leader.

The first-term Vaucluse MP was elected unopposed after a meeting of the Liberal Party room on Friday after Mark Speakman resigned suddenly.

Mr Speakman had struck a defiant tone on Thursday morning, but by that afternoon conceded that he needed to “clear the air” for the party.

On Saturday, Ms Sloane travelled to Parramatta, which the Liberals lost to Labor in the 2023 state election, where she met with local councillors.

While her visit was reportedly received positively by locals, she was accosted by protesters, some of whom wore shirts of the NSW Socialists.

On their Facebook page, the group said it was “the job of socialists to rain on the Liberals’ parade, especially when they roll into Parramatta for a photo-op.

“Shut-out to our Western Sydney members for giving Kellie Sloane the welcome she deserves on her first day as NSW Liberal leader.”

The group reportedly accused Ms Sloane of being a leader for “developers and billionaires”.

Speaking later, Ms Sloane said she was “always happy to have the hard conversations, and I’m here to listen”.

She said small businesses owners felt like NSW had “stalled” with prices and rents increasing.

Ms Sloane, who also travelled to Harris Park’s Little India, said it was a priority to go to Parramatta, “the demographic and geographic heart of our city”.

“I’m delighted to be here in Parramatta, day one on the job,” she said.

“It is an engine room of our state as well.

“I’m really proud of the tack record the NSW Liberals and Coalition have had in Western Sydney.”

She noted investments in WestConnex and western Sydney hospitals.

With more than a year before voters return to the polls, Ms Sloane faces an uphill battle amid slagging polling and fallout from federal disunity in the Coalition.

In her first media address, she pledges to “roll up her sleeves” and committed to continuing her predecessors commitment to net zero and YIMBY attitudes.

Her trip to Little India comes ahead of a planned event in Sydney featuring backbenched Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

Ms Price drew ire earlier this year following remarks about Australia’s Indian community, sparking urgent outreach from NSW Labor and Liberals.